~News and Upcoming Events~

NOTICE! The Owl Prowl has been rescheduled to Saturday, March 22^nd due to predicted inclement weather this weekend. Don't forget to RSVP.

• March 22nd ~ FIELD TRIP ~ Owling Outing with Zeke Watkins at Niagara Springs WMA - RSVP

• March 29th ~ FIELD TRIP ~ Greater Sage-Grouse Lek Visit with Ken and Sarah Harris - RSVP

• Order Bird Friendly Coffee before April 15th - DISCOUNT for members! Pick up Coffee orders at our May 1st Program

• Here's the link to View the Photo-Share Photos

• Lead it Go and All that Breathes ~ Two more award-winning films to watch; one free and one on HBO

• Order Plants for Pollinators from the Magic Valley Pollinator Council NOW through May 6th

• More Programs and Field Trips Coming...

Follow Up

~ Public Lands in Peril: A Triple Threat ~

with Josh Johnson

TAKE ACTION!

There are so many horrifying things going on right now, in our state and in our country, that will negatively impact birds and birders. Contact your legislators and take action! You can start by clicking on the link above, choosing one or more action items, and then sending your concerns from the ICL web site after you've personalized your messages. Your letters may have more impact if you write them yourself and send them from your own email program.

Owling Outing

Saturday, March 22nd

7:30 PM – 10:00

Niagara Springs Wildlife Management Area

RSVP or get more information

by contacting trip leader

Zeke Watkins: scottywarbler@yahoo.com

Meet up with Zeke at 7:30 in the parking area at the bottom of Clear Lakes Grade

MAP LINK

We will head out to find owls. On past outings we have seen and/or heard Great-horned, Western Screech, Northern Saw-whet, and Barn Owls!

Be sure to bring your binoculars, a flash light, a walking stick, warm quiet* clothes appropriate for the weather du jour, and water or maybe a thermos of something warm to drink.   

*Some things to know before you go - - - -

• The quieter we all are, the better our chances of observing owls. 
• Soft quiet fabric only. NO SLICK SWISHY SYNTHETICS! Fleece and blue jeans are ok. 
• If your belongings are noisy in any way (swish, rattle, squeak, beep, ring. etc.), please leave them home or noise-proof them.
• Snacks and drinks are fine but no noisy wrappers or drink lids. 
• NO PETS, NO EXCEPTIONS. 
• Flashlights are welcome, but they are for owl viewing only. We will be moving between spots in the dark so we don’t spook the owls. Bring a walking stick if you're worried about tripping in the dark.

Check out this website to see images and hear audio of Western Screech-Owl, Great-Horned Owl, Barn Owl, and Northern Saw-whet Owl:

North American Owls:  http://www.owling.com/Owling.htm

Sage Grouse Lek Trek

Saturday, March 29th

6:00 AM - 12:00 AM

Meet up at 6:00 AM (and be prepared to leave ASAP) in the SE corner of the Twin Falls County West parking lot. (DMV - Old Hospital parking lot)

We'll drive to Rogerson, ID, cross over the Salmon Falls Dam and head east to what has been a very active lek in years past.

Bring your scope, binoculars, camera, snacks and water.

Sorry, no dogs. We'll be observing the lek from cars, but will most likely do a bit of birding outside our vehicles after seeing the grouse, so wear appropriate clothing. Stops on the way home will include Cedar Cr. Reservoir and Lud Drexler Park. Please RSVP by emailing Sarah -idabirder@gmail.com

The road to the site may be muddy! We will need to take high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles the last 1/4 mile as we approach the lek. If you have a high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle, we'd love to have you drive it. We'll pile into said vehicles just before we get to the lek. If it turns out we don't have enough 4WD vehicles, we'll have to take turns. 

One of the iconic native species of the West is the Greater Sage-Grouse. Every spring, these birds gather at sites adjacent to nesting grounds called leks, where the males put on elaborate displays of courtship characterized by strutting and unique vocalizations.

You can see and hear this ritual yourself at a lek west of Salmon Falls Reservoir on Saturday, March 30th. We'll meet up in the Twin Falls County West parking lot at 6:00 AM. Viewing the birds is best an hour before, and an hour after sunrise, so that's why we will be heading out so early. Because sage grouse are sensitive to human disturbance, we'll try to reduce the number of vehicles approaching the lek by carpooling.

Photographers might be challenged by their distance from the leks and obstacles, but bring your camera anyway, and be sure to bring a pair of binoculars an a spotting scope if you have one.

Disclaimer: please be aware that other limiting factors may cause the grouse to leave the viewing site early or to not visit the site at all. Eagles, coyotes and other predators can scare them away. Wind, rain or snow can also cause them to seek cover and stay out of sight.

Learn more about Greater Sage-Grouse HERE

Lead it Go

23 minutes long and FREE to watch. Just click on the link above



Lead it Go follows hunter and President/CEO of The Peregrine Fund Chris Parish in his mission to prevent unintentional lead poisoning in wildlife. For more than two decades, Parish has channeled his efforts into recovering raptors and exploring reasons for their decline. Through research conducted with The Peregrine Fund, Parish helped discover that lead fragments from bullets in the remains of shot animals left afield are often accidentally eaten by eagles, condors, and other scavengers. As a lifelong hunter proud of the role that hunters have played in conservation, Parish has co-founded the North American Non-Lead Partnership, an organization that works with the hunting community to voluntarily remove lead from the food chain. His efforts have shown hunters' willingness to participate at the local level, and he is now attempting to spread this message to the broader hunting community. Told through a deer hunt with friend Ben Masters, the film aims to showcase hunters taking the lead on an important issue, thus continuing the hunter's tradition of conservation.

All That Breathes

Click on the link to read more and to

watch the trailer.

Review from NPR - All That Breathes is a documentary film that is currently streaming on HBO and HBO Max. This internationally acclaimed film takes us inside the lives of two ordinary-seeming Muslim brothers in Delhi, India, who are actually extraordinary in their dedication to doing good in a city teetering on the edge of apocalypse.

The brothers are named Saud and Nadeem, the former friendly, the latter a little grumpy. Along with their somewhat comical sidekick, Salik, they devote themselves to a project they began as kids: protecting Black Kites, glorious, hovering birds of prey that are widely detested as scavenging nuisances. Day after day, ailing and injured kites arrive at their homemade infirmary where the trio nurses them until they're able to fly back into the urban wild.

Although the guys have moments of fun – they play indoor cricket – theirs is an endless, largely thankless task. We watch them do everything from fishing wounded birds out of sewagey rivers to talking butchers into selling them cheap meat to grind up as feed; they keep applying for funding that never seems to come. Making things trickier, they do this in a city charged with sectarian violence. During the filming, angry mobs kill Muslims and burn buildings in a neighborhood about a mile from their home, filling the already smoggy air with a miasma of dread.

But the movie is not grim. The film captures life in its richest and most humane sense, showing us the lives of regular people, not celebrated artists or politicians. It allows the us to make connections for ourselves. There's no narrator or text telling us what to think as we watch the intersection of three ecosystems – the nature, society, and family.

The film bursts with humanity. In an age when we're constantly reminded of all that's bad, All That Breathes celebrates good things that are easy to forget: the wonder of life, the virtues of compassion and the human capacity to make the world better.

Don't miss this film, if you have HBO, or know a friend who does.

Something to look Forward To!

More Programs and Field Trips!

• Thursday, April 3rd ~ PROGRAM ~ IDFG Monarch and Milkweed Monitoring Program with Lyn Snoddy

• Thursday, April 17th ~ ZOOM Shorebird Training Session for Intermountain Shorebird Survey

• Monday, April 28th ~ VOLUNTEER ~ Clean-up/weeding at Orton Botanical Garden



• And many more events to come, thanks to the hard work of your Prairie Falcon Board of Directors! Many thanks to Pat, Randy, Jan, Karl, Bill, Deborah, Sarah, Melody, and Jeff!!

3rd Annual Twin Falls

Pollinator Plant Sale

Purchase locally grown plants to start or expand your own pollinator garden!

Join the Twin Falls Pollinator Council in supporting bees, butterflies, birds and other beneficial insects in our area.

go to: https://tfpollinatorcouncil.org/ to place an order for a selection of Native Plants



This would make a wonderful gift for Mother's Day!

These native plants are beneficial to our local pollinators and come back year after year. This is representative of what will be offered.

Native Plants Collection

• 4 ea. Blanket Flower – Gaillardia aristatata
• 4 ea. Pineleaf Penstemon – Penstemon pinifolius
• 4 ea. False Lupine – Thermopolis villosa
• 4 ea. Bush Penstemon – Penstemon fruticosus
• 4 ea. Cinquefoil – Potentilla gracilis
• 4 ea. Bee Balm – Monarda menthifolia
• 4 ea. Purple Avens – Geum rivale
• 4 ea. Licorice mint – Agastache rupestris

These native plants are beneficial to our local pollinators and come back year after year. This is representative of what will be offered. Actual plants offered may be different.

$50.00 Four starter plants of each variety (8) for a total of 32 plants!

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Prairie Falcon Audubon, Inc. fully supports

National Audubon Society's statement on

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

(www.audubon.org/about/equity-diversity-and-inclusion-audubon).

Prairie Falcon Audubon, Inc. believes that everyone has the right to enjoy birds, the outdoors, and a healthy and safe environment. In order to fulfill our mission to educate the general public about birds, bird watching, and preservation/improvement of the environment that birds and bird watchers share, we will work to include everyone, no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, age, or disability. We are committed to building an equitable, diverse, anti-racist, accessible, fun, and inclusive organization that supports birds, and the people who watch them, in our community.